All but one are reportedly from a group of Assyrians captured in northern Syria. March 12, - Iraqi forces retake most of Tikrit. April 1, - Iraqi forces, aided by Shiite militiamen, take full control of Tikrit. April 19, - ISIS releases a video that appears to show militants beheading two groups of prisoners in Libya. The Ethiopian government confirms that 30 of the victims were Ethiopian citizens.
His wife is captured and the raid yields significant intelligence on ISIS's structure and communications. May 17, - ISIS seizes control of Ramadi, the largest city in western Iraq, after government security forces pull out of a military base.
The frequency and savagery of ISIS attacks are alarming, according to the report. The group attacked a year-old shrine and a tomb where a descendent of the Prophet Mohammed's cousin was reportedly buried. June 26, - A gunman kills at least 38 people at a beachfront Tunisian hotel and a bomb kills at least 27 people at a mosque in Kuwait. ISIS claims responsibility for the attacks. July 1, - ISIS launches simultaneous attacks on five Egyptian military checkpoints, reportedly killing 17 Egyptian soldiers and injuring 30 others.
According to the Egyptian military, terrorists are killed in the fighting. July 17, - As Iraqis in Khan Bani Saad celebrate Eid al-Fitr, a holiday marking the end of the fast for Ramadan , ISIS detonates an ice truck bomb in a crowded marketplace, killing at least people and wounding at least more.
Fewer than 50 troops are going to Syria, according to the White House. Over the next 14 months, an additional American troops are sent to Syria to help train the local groups battling ISIS. November 12, - The Pentagon announces that it has conducted a remote control drone strike targeting Emwazi, also known as "Jihadi John.
November 12, - Two suicide bombs hit the Bourj al-Barajneh district of southern Beirut , killing more than 40 people and wounding hundreds. ISIS claims responsibility for the attack. The Kurds were backed by coalition air power. November 13, - Three teams of gun-wielding ISIS suicide bombers hit six locations around Paris, killing at least people and wounding others. This ISIS video shows a stage of basic training for children where they are coerced to commit violence -- all of this seemingly unaffected by hundreds of coalition air strikes.
It's physically hard but the main aim is to create a new army of unquestioning, and what ISIS deems, ideologically pure fighters. There are many children who now have absolute loyalty. Convincing young children to sacrifice their lives without question requires intensive indoctrination. Until just a few weeks before we met this woman, she says she was an ISIS teacher who prepared girls as young as 10 for suicide attacks.
EMIL: We push them into jihad. We tell them that all of us will die martyrs and reach Heaven, all of us. It is written in the Quran you have to fight jihad. So we all have to join jihad for the sake of God and the Islamic State. EMIL: The most important thing to make them understand is that [President] Bashar's state is infidel, that everyone should fight them, and that is God's word.
Now in Turkey, they attend weekly de-radicalization classes to counter the influence of ISIS indoctrination. Children are taught to spy on their parents -- who risk death if they object to their children joining ISIS. Boys are routinely gathered in town squares, where they're offered money and food to join ISIS and fed anti-western tirades.
The boys say they are sat in front of big screens and forced to watch videos of ISIS brutality, propaganda films like this which shows the recent execution of Syrian soldiers in Palmyra.
Sometimes we tried not to watch. But when we did watch we were scared. But perhaps most disturbingly of all, ISIS releases videos showing executions being carried out by boys themselves. OMAR: I was strung up and tortured for a month and a half. They were saying: "Why don't you pledge allegiance to Islamic State? Interviews with former extremists and their family members shed light on what leads people to join—and later leave—extremist groups.
The United States used airpower in Syria and Iraq to halt ISIS's momentum and help defeat the organization, without committing a large number of ground forces. As the Biden Administration takes over, some U. Some U. Under this approach, the United States would cooperate more with other powers, reduce its forward military presence, and end or renegotiate some security commitments. What are the policy implications of embarking down this path? Russia, China, and the so-called Islamic State are three key U.
This chapter reviews the aims, capabilities, and limitations of online propaganda for each of these entities. The Afghan Taliban is on the verge of entering into a power-sharing agreement with the Afghan government in a peace deal facilitated by the United States.
Washington seems to be holding out hope that the deal will stabilize the country. But the Islamic State Khorasan Province remains a concern. The Islamic State in Afghanistan may be down, but it's not out. While Southern Africa has largely remained immune from violent extremism, the situation in northern Mozambique threatens to destabilize the country and could potentially spread to other parts of the region.
To effectively counter the growing threat, the government could devise a less heavy handed approach. Supporting a stable and friendly Iraq is in the long-term interest of the United States. This does not require continuing the combat assistance mission, but would mean maintaining a small force of military advisers to help train and develop Iraqi capabilities so that Iraq could defend itself.
American interests will suffer if strategic competition in Iraq is abandoned. The best way to establish that commitment is through robust, long-term, small-footprint assistance to the Iraqi Army. If American soldiers are ejected from Iraq, the consequences may be far-reaching and damaging to U. What options remain to reset the relationship between Washington and Baghdad? Baghdadi held a kind of elusive charisma for the organization. He will be replaced, but this does not mean that the Islamic State will simply go back to business as usual.
President Trump's decision to withdraw U. The reaction from other Jihadist groups was mixed, with the Taliban and al-Qaeda rejecting the announcement.
However, the increased profile and seeming invincibility of IS proved attractive to thousands of extremist recruits from around the world, with several thousand Westerners travelling to either fight with IS or to join the Caliphate. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi made a rare public appearance in an IS propaganda video shortly after the capture of Mosul and announcement of the new Caliphate.
It was this translation which stuck with most journalists and commentators, popularising the name: ISIS. IS' interpretation of the Caliphate is one which implements strict Sharia, including harsh punishments for discretions surrounding adultery, alcohol and dress codes. IS also saw expansion of the Caliphate as a principle objective, declaring that ' The Caliphate has no borders, only frontlines '. By declaring itself as a Caliphate, IS was demanding dominion over Muslims worldwide.
However, even other Jihadist groups deemed that the declaration was illegitimate. Despite this, the declaration widely advertised the cause and many extremists travelled to Iraq and Syria to join the new Islamic State.
Image purported to show the 5-year-plan of IS - demonstrating the organisation's goals to expand the Caliphate. While the Kurdish militia Peshmerga offered more resistance than the Iraqi Army they were no match for the better equipped and organised Islamic State of Iraq and Syria - ISIS had added stockpiles of new weapons and equipment to their arsenal which had been abandoned by the Iraqi Army during the Mosul offensive.
Much of the equipment was US made and supplied. The population of Sinjar was largely Yazidi, an ancient ethno-religious minority which practices Zoroastrianism combining elements of Judaism, Islam and Christianity. Shia and Yazidi civilians fled, with 50, Yazidi civilians becoming trapped on nearby Mount Sinjar.
ISIS began slaughtering those who did not immediately convert to the Jihadists' extreme interpretation of Islam. Trapped without food or water, the 50, Yazidis on Mount Sinjar were faced with starving to death or leaving the mountain to be killed by ISIS.
Reports were also emerging that ISIS was kidnapping Yazidi women and forcing them into sexual slavery. In response to the plight of the Yazidis, on August 7th , President Barack Obama announced that the United States would conduct airstrikes around Mount Sinjar in order to prevent a genocide of the trapped Yazidis. US Air Strikes began on August 8th. From the 9th August the Kurdish militia forces from Syria, Turkey and Iraq were able to secure a corridor off the mountain with the support of the air strikes.
By the 13th August almost all of the Yazidis had been evacuated and the US announced that the siege was broken.
Despite the international intervention, ISIS is believed to have killed Yazidi men and boys, and kidnapped , Yazidi women to be forced into sexual enslavement. At the beginning of , several thousand Yazidi women are still missing. The United Nations deemed that the Islamic State "may have committed genocide" of the Yazidi population of Sinjar in , with the lead investigator stating that: "It was quite clear the attacks against them were not just spontaneous or happened out of the blue; they were clearly orchestrated" New York Times.
When IS captured Sinjar in August they massacred captured male civilians and mass kidnapped women to be sold into sexual slavery. IS is believed to have massacred male Yazidis and kidnapped between , women and young girls for rape and enslavement.
Yazidi women were sold in marketplaces or offered to fighters or prospective recruits as incentives. IS clearly publicised and justified the enslavement of Yazidi women in its propaganda magazines following the attack on Sinjar.
When Iraqi Security Forces and Kurdish forces recaptured Sinjar and the surrounding area several mass graves of Yazidi civilians were discovered. Nadia Murad campaigns for women still held in captivity.
Having already shocked and outraged the world with the capture of Mosul, the Camp Speicher Massacre and the mass murder and enslavement of civilians in Sinjar in recent weeks, on August 19th ISIS posted a video to various online platforms showing the beheading of American journalist James Foley.
The video was a conscious continuation of the public and choreographed brutality which the group's founder, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, had written into the organisation's DNA. Most horrifying to international audiences was the executioner's unmistakably British accent. The conflict underway in Iraq and Syria would no longer be distant and unrelatable to British or American audiences, and the masked executioner was thrust into the international media limelight. Cantlie appeared in several subsequent ISIS propaganda videos and is still unaccounted for at the time of this entry's writing February After appearing at the end of the video showing the murder of American journalist James Foley, Muhammed Emwazi Jihadi John , followed through on his threat to murder American-Israeli journalist Steven Sotloff on 2nd September The coalition was formed not only as a military alliance taking action against Islamic State, but as a multinational operation to disrupt financing and propaganda, as well as to help stabilise areas formerly under IS control.
Some 60 nations joined the coalition, and as of February the coalition is made up of 75 different nations committed to the goals of "degrading and ultimately defeating Daesh".
Global Coalition Against Daesh: www. At the end of the video Emwazi shows another British hostage, Alan Henning, and threatens to make him the next victim.
In response, British Prime Minister David Cameron made the following statement in the House of Commons: "A country like ours will not be cowed by these barbaric killers. If they think we will weaken in the face of their threats, they are wrong. It will have the opposite effect. We will be more forthright in the defence of the values, liberty under the rule of law, freedom, democracy that we hold dear.
By this point, IS had been focussing more on taking territory from other rebel factions in the Syrian Civil War and expanding into Kurdish territory than fighting the Assad regime. The Kurdish population around Kobane had largely stayed out of the Civil War but were forced to defend themselves as IS made advances towards the Kurdish region of Rojava.
Despite airstrikes, by 6th October, IS had successfully captured much of the city as thousands of refugees watch the fighting from across the border in Turkey. Arab nations join the United States-led coalition against IS and begin conducting airstrikes in defence of Kobane. The battle continues for several months as the Kurdish forces begin to force IS out of the city with the support coalition airstrikes.
The battle for Kobane proves extremely costly for IS, as it is believe some 1, Jihadists were killed. The victory at Kobane allows the Kurdish forces to organise, regroup and begin to push IS out of Rojava and beyond.
However, after months of fighting much of Kobane lies in ruins. On October 3rd , IS released another video depicting the beheading of British aid worker Alan Henning at the hands of the masked executioner, Muhammad Emwazi - known as Jihadi John. Henning had travelled to Syria as part of an aid convoy delivering supplies to Syrians suffering in the Civil War. The series of brutal beheadings of American, British and Japanese hostages at the hands of Londoner, Muhammad Emwazi, had shocked the world and brought the numbers of international volunteers for Jihadist groups like ISIS and al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra under the microscope.
Emwazi, also known as Jihadi John, was part of a four person group of British ISIS fighters, known for their brutality towards prisoners and for their nickname: The Beatles. In the early stages of the Syrian Civil War, many international volunteers had travelled to Syria after being motivated to take up arms in defence of the Syrian people suffering at the hands of President Bashar al-Assad's regime.
Jihadist groups like Jabhat al-Nusra and ISIS were the most adept at advertising their cause to the outside world and the most willing to accept international fighters. However, the bulk of ISIS recruits travelled as the group gained momentum in both Iraq and Syria, and was engaged in fighting with other opposition groups. For the second wave of recruits, the extremist ideology of ISIS and its perceived invincibility particularly after it declared itself as the new Caliphate were the draw.
After ISIS consolidated territory in Mosul and Raqqa and declared itself a Caliphate, the group began advertising the Islamic State as a viable place to live and flourish, as well as recruiting the engineers, doctors and teachers they hoped would sustain the Caliphate project.
For these reasons, many more women travelled to the warzone to marry fighters, as well as entire families with children and elderly grandparents travelling in order to become a part of the new Islamic State. The potential security threat posed by returning foreign fighters has been a key challenge for policy makers around the world.
IS is believed to have lost 1,, fighters in the battle. The Kurds are a stateless ethnic group in the Middle-East. From onwards, the Kurdish population of Syria and Iraq found itself on the frontlines of the fight against the Islamic State, leading to widespread global support for the Kurdish militia units fighting against IS.
In Iraq, the Kurdish forces defending the Kurdish semi-autonomous region are known as the Peshmerga, translating to 'those who confront death'. The Peshmerga were instrumental in the rescue operation to save 50, Yazidis stranded on Mt Sinjar by IS, as well as the operations to retake Mosul. The Kurdish population felt abandoned and marginalised by the Baghdad government during the Islamic State crisis, lending momentum to longstanding calls for independence from Iraq. A September referendum saw The Global Coalition also supported the defence of the Kobane with a significant number of airstrikes, and the YPG were supported by Kurdish Peshmerga units reinforcing from Iraq.
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